“When I went to college I was majoring in Fine Arts and had a job at an art gallery for about a year. Basically, it started all about the traditional arts, pencils, pens, paints, etc., but when I got my first computer around 1999, I discovered PC video games,” she said.

 The video game graphics are what inspired her to dig into digital art. She played games like Ultima Online, Everquest, Magic the Gathering, and after 20 years, she still plays World of Warcraft. “In fact, I have just uploaded a product, so when I finish this article with you, I will be logging in!” she told us.

 Sveva said that digital art is her only “job” because in 2004 she realized she never wanted to go back to any sort of "real job" working for someone else.

“Maybe I'm not cut out for it, maybe it isn't a good fit for me, but I also wanted and needed to be home with my kids,” she said.

 With a good eye for business, she said she had been around Renderosity for a little while, saw a market need and went for it. She made a lot of 2D in the beginning, but needed to do more, so she taught herself other programs as time went on. She did volunteer as one of the Digital Art Gallery Mods at Deviant Art for two years back around 2005, saying that it was fun and a lot of work, but she enjoyed choosing artworks to showcase each day from the galleries.

Q&A with Sveva

What are the programs you first used while learning to create digital art, and what are your favorite programs or tools now for work?

I started in Paint Shop Pro, graduated up to Photoshop, but that was all for 2D work, but I was also using Poser at the time. I think it may have been Poser 4! LOL! Sometime in 2009 I tried my hand at clothing textures. That went well, so I kept going. In the next few years after that, I tried Silo, Cinema, Max, Modo, Zbrush, and Hexagon. I settled on Cinema4D, Hex, and Zbrush, but that was only at first. Much later on, I decided I wanted to try clothing, especially once dForce came out, because this was much easier than other ways of creating clothing. I had made a few things prior to dForce, but I didn't truly like it until dForce came around in Daz Studio. At some point, around the time of Genesis 3 and 8 I made a complete switch from Poser to Daz Studio, which was not as difficult as I thought it would be.

So today, and for the past few years I have settled on Marvelous Designer, ZBrush, Daz Studio and Photoshop. Those are the big ones anyway. There are other programs here and there that I use as needed, and often times I turn to Substance Painter. I would say I spend probably 65 percent in Daz and Photoshop, the other time is spent modeling and morphing.

How did you transition your interest in digital art to production of commercial works?

I needed the money. I was spending 40+ hours a week on one single digital painting, and I would upload these to places like Deviant Art. They would get loads and loads of views, but rarely would it help pay my bills. Eventually my account gained in popularity, and people needing art for book covers, album covers, magazines etc. would contact me so I made some money licensing my work. I have several books with my work on the cover. I can't read them because most of them are in French, but maybe one day! I also had a jigsaw puzzle contract with Hasbro for one of my works many years ago. My work was featured in ImagineFX magazine, Fantasy Magazine, and even inside an in-flight magazine for the middle east. I carved out a very small place for myself with my digital work, but the pay was sporadic. I may have made a few hundred one month or a lot more another month…it was not steady income. Since I had already been a customer at Renderosity for digital assets, I thought I may as well give selling a go here, too.

What are your favorite projects to create and what has been the most successful for you?

I suppose clothing has been the most successful, though prop sets and scenes are great, too. Sometimes, I really love what I am working on, and I think this is going to be GREAT! Then it doesn't sell as well as some other item I spent a bit less time on. You never know how that will go and its always a risk, but I'd say I usually like everything I am working on because it was my idea to begin with, I guess. If I start hating something I usually put it away for a while and revisit it another time.

How have your designs or interests changed over the past few years?

 Honestly, I don't know. I don't think they have really. Sometimes I make sexy things. Sometimes I make sweatpants. I think aside from learning new things or new ways to do something that helps the work flow, things pretty much are the same. I try to brainstorm and sometimes my ideas are awesome and do well, but sometimes they fail and that is just the way it goes. So, I try to do my best!

What are some products you want to create in the near future and what goals do you have in mind as a vendor?

 You know what? I often have zero ideas like this on the spot. I worked today already, and my mind is trailing off already! But I will say this, I would love to go back to doing some hard surface modeling/scenes. I do really miss that sometimes, and also perhaps some jewelry!

Are there other artists that influence your work or have mentored you?

 It's just me, myself, and I. People tend to come and go. I have a few friends in the art community, but mostly I kind of stick to myself. I have always hated to ask for help, so I usually just work by myself and if I can't figure something out I just pull my hair out for a few days until I do, or once in a great while I reach out to someone, but I usually just figure it out or force myself to learn. I know many may think I am distant or don't talk much, but it is never meant as personal, it's just the way I am wired.

How has Renderosity made a difference or helped in your growth as a vendor?

Renderosity has been great to me. There have been off years here and there, but overall, I love the website and the people. Renderosity's door has always remained open, it has always been an easy going brokerage to work with. I appreciate the site very much and am thankful it exists.

With the arrival of AI in digital art, what are your thoughts on its use?

Eh, it’s good for some things. It has its uses, but I doubt I would be making much money if I still sold my own hand painted book covers. What would be the point? The author can just AI gen a cover themselves in less than 10 minutes. Heck, they could probably do a much better job at it than I ever could because an author has a way with words when writing the AI gen description! What a turn of the tides! LOL! But in all honesty, AI generative works can be fine for some purposes, so long as none of the work is outright taken from someone else as in actual copyright violation. I don't tend to agree with much as far as "AI" goes. I once asked Siri to play a song, and she ended up putting Chinese hip hop music on random shuffle. Speaking of AI, Alexa hasn't spoken to me in over 2 weeks.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to become an artist or vendor?

Go for it. Before you get overwhelmed, just pick what you want to do, and figure out how to do that thing. Don't try to focus on ALL the things, just focus on one thing at a time. If you are going to start somewhere. Try to start small. If you don't know the answer keep searching online or ask someone in the community or on some forums. Teach yourself, it may seem daunting, but you can, and there are a billion videos and tutorials to help you out with just about any of the programs you are interested in.

Any other comments you have for the community?

“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy